Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg flew all the way to London on Thursday, only finding out after he landed that his move to Fulham had been called off while he was in the air.

Maarten Stekelenburg is hopeful the transfer will be revived in the summer

Roma had sanctioned a loan deal for Stekelenburg, 30, and he boarded a plane in order to have his medical and sign on at Craven Cottage. However, before he arrived the Giallorossi were unsuccessful in a bid to capture Fiorentina’s Emiliano Viviano to replace the Dutchman and cancelled the deal.

That left the Stekelenburg, currently out of favour with coach Zdenek Zeman, stranded, but he told a reporter on his return to Italy that he carried no grudges and understood the situation.

“I’m really disappointed that the transfer didn’t take place,” he told Sky Italia. “I hoped that this situation would have ended differently. It’s a big blow that will take me a little time to get over, but I’m a professional and my objective is to become the first choice at Roma again.

“I really wanted to join Fulham. I would have been guaranteed playing time. I can’t really blame anyone for this, though. Roma, from the start, told me that they would have only sold me should they get an adequate replacement.The fact that the deal wasn’t done doesn’t mean that it won’t happen anymore. We’ll see what the situation is like in the summer.”